Damaged Goods
by pearberry14
Summary: Formerly You Say WHAT Happened? made some much needed corrections, and actually finished it. Bella has a secret in Phoenix, one that only herself and her step-father know. She makes a radical change to her lifestyle, to attempt to get away from this secret. Will it work? CAUTION: violence
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- Any of the medical information in this chapter consists of what I researched and interpreted from what I was reading. If anything is incorrect, please let me know and I will fix it. no owny.**

"Isabella?" I heard him call from the bathroom. I knew I had limited time before he came looking for me. While he was still preoccupied, I began running. With no heavily wooded areas nearby, which were my first choice for hiding, I decided to go the opposite way, and run as fast as I could to the nearest heavily populated area. Unfortunately, Phil has fairly fast reflexes, and as soon as he realized that I was gone, he bolted for his car. Although I was fast, because I was on the cross country team at school, I was no match for his car, especially not with the pedal to the floor. He caught up with me when I was halfway toward my destination, the mall. The worst part was the fact that I could see it. I knew I had mere seconds, so I pushed myself to my max limit. I felt him grab me around the waist, and pull me towards his car. The most unfortunate thing about my choice of destination was that although the mall would be jam packed because it was a Friday night, the streets were like a ghost town. Nobody. There weren't even any kids outside playing. Streets completely empty. Which is also why there was nobody stopping Phil as he hauled me around towards his car, and forced me in the backseat. I scrambled for the door, but he was faster. He was already in the driver's seat, and had mashed the locks down, and peeled down the street, and towards home. I already knew what was going to happen. It happened every time I tried to escape him. First he'd catch me, no matter what my method of escape was. A few times I had friends pick me up, under the pretenses of hanging out, or studying, but he always saw through it. I always "got what I deserved," as Phil put it. After he caught me, he'd either beat me, or drag me to his bedroom. The worst part of that was that I had to change the sheets afterwards. He pulled into the driveway, and started dragging me towards the kitchen. At least this way I wouldn't have to change the sheets. He threw me on the floor.

"Cook dinner, and do the dishes. Your mother will be home in a few hours." He demanded furiously. I tried to stand, but I was tired. Emotionally, physically, and mentally. "I said get going!" he thundered, stepping menacingly towards me. I tried a second time to get up, but my energy drain was astounding. I dropped my head to the floor. He kicked me very hard in the stomach, and tried to haul me to standing. I went limp in his arms, realizing at this point it was probably a bad idea, but it was already too late to matter now. He hauled me up again. I used what strength I had left to hold my head up and give him a defiant look. I saw the rage in his eyes. I should have seen it coming, but I didn't realize it until I felt the sharp sting of his palm against my cheek as my head was snapped to the side from the force of his slap. I could feel the heat from where his hand made contact with my face. I could practically see the red handprint on my face. He dropped me in horror. Usually he tried to avoid leaving marks like that on my face arms and legs, places where people might see them. He threw me down in disgust. As I fell, I scrabbled for purchase to hold myself up, so I wouldn't fall to the floor. The result was completely opposite of what I had intended. I felt, and heard the snap of the bones in my arm as I landed on my left arm with my whole weight on top of it. I gasped in pain as all my breath was exhaled from the impact. I heard Phil cursing and knocking over furniture in his anger. It was, after all, pretty much his fault, and abusing your stepdaughter wasn't exactly something you wanted to broadcast to everyone. Staggering up, I clutched my arm to my chest, feeling throbbing pain whenever I moved my arm. I made my way out to the living room, where Phil was sitting on the couch, with his head in his hands. Once he heard me, he looked up. He walked to the bathroom, and came back with some foundation. He applied it to the cheek he slapped, trying to cover the mark he made so he could bring me to the hospital to get my arm checked out. He set the makeup on the table, grabbed my elbow, and led me towards his car. The pain was really starting to set in now, hazing over my vision, and encompassing all other feelings. I vaguely felt him sit me down in the car, and buckled me in, carefully avoiding my cradled arm. He drove me to the hospital, not bothering to avoid and potholes or bumps in the road, and they just made the pain intensify. The usually seemingly long trip didn't take very long, because the pain pretty much blocked out anything else. He parked the car in the closest spot to the hospital, which wasn't very close. I heard him cursing as a car backed out of a spot closer up as he came to help me out of the car. He released the seatbelt, and that helped dim the pain a little bit. I carefully got out with his help; the jarring movements bring the pain back. I started shuffling towards the giant sign that said emergency room, as Phil shut the door behind me. He placed his hand on my upper back, directing me in the direction I was already going. Once inside the waiting room, he sat me down and went over to check me in. The pain was slowly disappearing, and then it vanished. All of the sudden, pain surged through my arm, to the point where I felt tears begin to fall down my face. It was nearly unbearable. I lifted my good arm up to wipe away the tears, but that just made the pain worse. Quickly I brought my arm back down to cradle my broken one against my chest. I realized that Phil was walking toward me, a female nurse in tow behind him. Phil sat down in an empty seat across from me, and the nurse squatted in front of me, holding a clip board with a pen and a few pieces of paper. She asked me some questions, what my pain level was, my name, and about the accident. I told her I fell down the stairs, and hoped that it corresponded with what Phil had told her. She went back to her desk, and came back, this time without the clipboard. She asked me to hold out my arm, and fastened a bracelet around my good wrist. She went back to her desk, to help some other injured people. I closed my eyes, willing the pain away. Finally, what seemed like eons later but was actually just minutes later, I heard my name called and opened my eyes. I stood up, and followed the doctor holding the clipboard that the nurse had took information down on. He led me to an examination room, where they asked more questions about the accident, if I was allergic to any medications and things like that. He told Phil that I would more than likely need a cast, but they would need to see x-rays, just to be sure. He said that luckily they hadn't been too many people today that needed to be seen in radiology, so the wait shouldn't be too long. He did a physical examination of my arm, poking, prodding and turning it, to be sure that the bone wasn't sticking out I suppose. The examination made the dulling pain come back, but once he was finished it got better. The doctor left, presumably to check on other patients that needed attention. After a while, just sitting in silence, keeping my eyes averted from Phil, who was sitting in the corner staring at me, the doctor walked back in, looking at the pager clipped onto his lab coat.

"X-ray is ready for us now. Have a seat, and we'll head down there." He said, patting the wheelchair that an orderly had wheeled in behind him. Turning to look at Phil, he said, "You can stay here and wait. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes." Phil nodded, and the doctor took the wheelchair from the orderly, and pushed me down the hallway, and into an elevator. He pushed the button labeled 4, the doors closed, and the elevator began to move up. It stopped on the next floor, and the doors opened. A young looking woman wearing light blue scrubs and a lab coat walked in, pushing a wheel chair that contained a good looking boy with an IV in his arm. He looked at me.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Jace. You look familiar. Have I seen you around before?" he asked. I looked at him shyly.

"Maybe. I go to the local high school. I'm a junior. Maybe I've seen you around school or something. Or here. It's possible, cause I seem to be here a lot." I said, joking around with this cute boy. I'm not really sure why I was talking to him like this; it was fairly unusual for me. I usually don't talk to boys, or even look at them.

He let out an adorable chuckle, his blue eyes sparkling, and said, "Probably from school. I'm a senior. I've probably seen you around the halls." All the sudden, I heard quiet arguing coming from behind us.

"No! I told you that we are done, Jonathan! I don't care if you signed the divorce papers; you never told me that you were still married in the first place!" the girl whispered angrily. The ER doctor rubbed the back of his neck, noticing the sudden lack of other conversation.

"We will continue this conversation later Mia." He said as the elevator doors opened. The girl angrily pushed Jace out of the elevator.

"Wait!" he said loudly, turning around. The girl, Mia I assumed, turned him around to face us. "What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Bella!" I said, as the doors closed. He slipped me a piece of paper, and I held onto it. I saw him mouth my name as they turned around. The elevator continued upwards, towards radiology. The doctor chuckled nervously.

"If anyone asks, you didn't see any of that. Attendings aren't really supposed to have relationships with interns…" he said as the elevator came to a halt. The doors opened, and he pushed me out, and down a hallway. I hugged my arm closer to my chest, using the pain to bring me back to my situation. I shouldn't be laughing and having a good time with a boy! He brought me into a room, with a big machine, and a metal table. The technician lay me down on the table, and positioned my arm, apologizing for causing me pain the entire time. They took the needed images, and helped me back into the wheelchair. We rode silently back down the elevator, back to the examination room. The doctor left, mumbling something about needing to talk to someone. I smirked in my head, thinking he was talking about that Mia woman. After about half an hour, he came back in, and informed us that my arm was indeed broken, and that we needed to do more testing to make sure that none of the tissue around the break had been damaged by my fall. He said that we would have to take a CT scan. I was loaded back into the elevator in the wheelchair, and back up to the fourth floor. Mia was standing in the back of the elevator, ad I could hear my doctor pleading with her. We made it to the fourth floor, and I was brought into another room that had a big table in the middle of the room, with a giant donut shaped object. Prior to coming up, they had given me a cup to drink, they said it was a dye, and it would help them to get a better picture. They had me lay down on a table, and went into a separate room. I heard a click, and then someone told me to lay as still as possible. I did as they told me, and I began moving through the hole in the machine. I stiffened as the machine began to make buzzing, clicking and whirring noises, and they called over the intercom for me to not worry. It was over quickly, moving the table back out of the machine. They came back in the room, and helped me off the table and back into the wheelchair, and brought me back down, once again.

"Now, there was no damage to any of the tissue, but the fact still remains that her arm is broken. We need to put a cast on her arm, and in about six weeks your arm should be healed. From the scans we determined that we need to reset the bones, and since this is a teaching hospital, I have asked one of our interns to come and assist." As he said that, Mia walked in and stood in the corner of the room. He gave me a shot in my shoulder, and told me that it was a local anesthetic. They left to go get the necessary supplies, arguing softly as they did. Phil was still staring at me.

"Tell anyone what went on here, and you'll find yourself in a world of hurt." He said, looking at me. I quickly nodded, looking down. The pain in my arm was beginning to dampen a little. The two doctors came back into the room. They laid out some supplies on the table, and came over to me. Mia grasped my arm, just above my elbow, and then Jonathan took my hand, and placed his hands around my wrist, thumbs on the front of my arm, just below my wrist. And then, they both pulled. The pain intensified, and then I felt a pop. The pain suddenly decreased when I felt the pop. I breathed a sigh of relief. They then began bandaging and putting plaster on the arm. They were done in no time. After they set it, I was in very little pain, and it was deemed unnecessary to give me a prescription for painkillers. Phil had to sign some paperwork, but we were all set, with my new aqua colored cast. As we were walking out, I noticed that Mia was kissing Jonathan. It was good to know that they had come full circle and had gotten back together. We drove home, and pulled back into the driveway, as Renee was getting out of her car. She had just come home from her second job as a museum tour guide, to supplement her job as a kindergarten teacher. She gasped when she saw my blue arm.

"What happened?" she asked, running over to me.

"Mom, it's no big deal, I just fell down the stairs is all. Don't worry, I'm fine." Phil looked at his watch.

"Shoot! Sorry ladies, I've got to leave for my flight. It leaves in just over two hours. Love you Renee." He pressed a quick kiss on her lips, and ran inside the house to grab his bag. He was going to be gone for a week, and I was hoping to make my move in that time. Renee grabbed her purse, and began shuffling me into the house. I sat down at the table, and she began boiling some water to make pasta for supper.

"Mom?" I asked.

"Yes honey? What's up?" she said, stirring the pasta.

"Mom, can I go and live with dad? I mean you and Phil, you're just so happy together, and I feel bad when you have to say goodbye to him when he leaves instead of going with him. You should be able to go with him. If I go to dad, then you won't have to stay with me anymore and you and Phil can be happier. Please mom, say yes!" I said, begging her.

She thought about it for a second. "Alright… I'll see what I can do. You go on up to bed after you eat, and I'll talk to your dad and find you a flight if it's all right with him. She said, placing a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce in front of me. I smiled happily, and awkwardly dug into the food. Afterwards, I put my bowl in the sink, then went upstairs to my bedroom and did my best to put my pjs on one handed. I crawled into bed, and found a comfortable position to deal with the hard cast around my arm. A few minutes after I stopped wriggling around, just as my eyes were beginning to droop, there came a gentle knock on my door.

"Yeah?" I called, surprised by how sleepy I sounded. Renee cracked the door open.

"I talked to your dad. He agreed to you coming out, and I'm going to go look at flights. I'll talk to you tomorrow honey. Good night sweetie." She said, closing the door. I began to think about what clothes I was going to pack, and the next thing I knew was that I was dreaming of blue eyes sparkling with laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

**PB/N- just wanting to apologize ahead of time. When I wrote this, I hadn't flown, so if any details are in error I apologize. I did, however, Google a map of the airports and found real life flight times from travel websites. Note: *edited after taking a plane trip to Hawaii to visit my big sister. First time flying, and alone, scary much?***

When I woke up, I immediately got up to start going through my wardrobe. I rolled out of bed, and walked over to the dresser, not even noting the time, which just happened to be 6:37 am. There was a sheet of paper taped to my dresser. I ripped it down and read what it said.

_Bella, I was looking at flights, and the best one is tomorrow at 12:30. We'll talk over breakfast, and then I assume you need to go shopping. Love you, Mom._

I crumpled up the paper, and threw it off to the side. Opening my drawers, I began to make piles of my clothing. Forks appropriate, ones I never wear anymore, and ones I'm going to save for if I come to visit. The worst part was that my Forks appropriate clothing was the smallest pile of the three, mostly consisting of sweatshirts and sweatpants, otherwise known as my lazy clothes. I sat back and frowned. Those would never be appropriate to wear to school. Sighing, I went downstairs to grab a couple of trash bags to bag up the unnecessary clothing. I marked one bag to be dropped off at a local charity, and the other with my name to be put up in the attic, for if I would need them later on. My sweats I folded up and put into my suitcase. I sighed again. My clothes looked so pitiful in the huge suitcase. I really needed to go shopping. I changed my clothes, into something more acceptable to wear out, and made my way downstairs to the breakfast table. At this point it was around seven, which was a better time to be up on the weekend, although still pretty early. Mom had always been an early riser, and when I went downstairs I could smell the pancakes she was making for us. I sat at the kitchen table, and mom put down a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of me. She followed up with the maple syrup, and a glass of orange juice. I got up, and helped myself to the coffee she had brewed. I preferred it black, although mom liked it really white and sweet. I began chowing down on my breakfast while she began to talk about our day planned with shopping. I nodded in all the right places, and when I finished my pancakes I put my plate and cups in the sink, and slipped my shoes on, shoving my cell phone in my pocket with my good arm. I sat back down, and waited for mom to finish her pancakes so we could go on our little shopping excursion. She finished up really soon, and washed all the dishes from breakfast. She grabbed her keys and her purse, and locked the doors as we walked outside. We climbed into the car, and she started jabbering about her childhood in Forks, which was really surprising because mom never talked about Forks. We were headed to the mall down the street, where I had tried to run to my rescue yesterday. We found a parking spot fairly close to the entrance, and we entered the main plaza. She tugged me into the nearest store, and started piling clothes up in her arms for me to try on. I followed her around, chuckling at her anxiety. I really never was one for shopping like this. I preferred to get inside, find what I needed, and leave, spending as little time in the store as I possibly could. That's not how my mom liked, to shop, but I put up with it because she's my mom and I love her. Besides, who can say no to someone buying tons of clothes for you? I know I can't! I was shoved into the changing room with the pile of clothes, with my mother yelling to me that I just had to model every outfit for her! I sighed, and began pulling off my clothes, replacing them with the stiff, new clothes. I buttoned the last button, and stepped out of the booth, and spun around, modeling the outfit for her and the employee of the store who happened to be talking to my mother. My mom scrutinized me, and suddenly her face lit up.

"I know what it's missing!" she said. "I'll be right back!" I stood there with a sheepish look on my face while I waited for her to come back. Mom rushed back, waving a purple cardigan in my face. I took it from her, and put it on, checking it out in the mirror. "Perfect!" my mother gushed. I blushed, and turned back into the room, to piece together the next outfit. My mom yelled to me to pass the clothes out underneath the door so she could start ringing up her order. I did as she asked, and then pulled on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I liked it, because it was really simple and comfortable. If my mother said she didn't like it, I was going to pitch a fit until she bought it for me anyways. I stepped out of the changing room, and my mother made a face.

"I don't care mom, if you like it. It's really comfortable, and will be good for crampy, irritable days." I said, she considered it for a moment, and shook her head yes. I skipped back into the room, and tried on the next outfits, my mother rejecting some, accepting some, and me having to force her hand in some that I really liked. We spent about three hours in the mall going to all the different shops and buying so many outfits. When I tried to cut my mom off, she told me that I was going to need more clothes than that, and continued to shop for me, against my weak protests. Finally she was all shopped out, and we lugged all the bags to the car. They wouldn't all fit in the trunk, so we had to shove some in the backseat. We drove back home, and were carrying the bags in when my mom's phone rang. She listened intently.

"Okay, I see. She will be there in three hours." She said, and snapped her phone shut. "I was hoping that we'd be able to wash all these and pack them tonight, but your flight tomorrow was canceled and they put you on the next flight, and that's tonight in five hours. So we need to pack everything up now and you can wash it when you get to Forks." She said, running up the stairs to grab my bags. I sighed, and grabbed the first bag and began folding the clothes inside. An hour and a half later, we had all the clothes folded and shoved into two bags, with my toiletries in there as well. Mom set the bags by the door, and began cooking up some lunch. I grabbed my big purse to use as a carry on, and put my iPod, a couple books, and the e-reader that my grandmother had gotten me for Christmas last year. I also put in my wallet, and the chargers for the electronic devices. I carried it downstairs and set it with my suitcases. I started carrying al the bags out to the car, and put them in the trunk. I came back inside, and sat down at the table.

"I'm making grilled cheese and soup." She called from the kitchen. "Is there any kind of soup you particularly wanted?" I thought about it for a minute.

"Chicken noodle." I said. She nodded, and grabbed the can of soup and began heating it up, after flipping the sandwiches that were on the griddle. The soup started boiling, and the sandwiches were fully melted. Mom plated up the sandwiches, and brought them and the pot of soup over to the table. I grabbed a sandwich, cut it in half, and filled the bowls that I brought over with the soup, for each of us. After we finished eating, there was still an hour before I had to be at the airport. I went out to the car, and grabbed my kindle from the car, and began reading.

Half an hour passed easily, and mom locked up the house and we left for the airport. It was only a ten minute drive, but finding a parking spot was going to be a challenge. We drove around for almost fifteen minutes before we found a parking spot, and it was actually close to the terminal that I needed. We rushed inside and went to the check in desk to check in. I was handed my boarding pass, and we went off to get my luggage weighed. Luckily my luggage was in the required weight range, and off we went to security. This is where I said goodbye to mom, because she wasn't allowed any further. They sent my carry on through the x-ray machine, and I walked through the metal detector, after taking my cell phone out of my pocket. Luckily nothing set off the detector- either one- and I was on my way to wait for the plane. There was about half an hour before my flight was scheduled to take off, so I went to the bathroom and then sat down to read.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a good thing, because otherwise I probably would have forgotten to turn it off. I was surprised, because I didn't really have any friends from school, and there was nobody else to text me except… Phil. Looking at the screen, I saw it was from him and flipped open my phone to read the message. _You can't hide forever…_ I gasped in fear, and could feel my heart racing. I looked around wildly. As soon as I saw that he wasn't there, I calmed down and my heart slowed down. I looked at the time. I had fifteen minutes until my plane would be boarding. I awkwardly packed everything up, powered off my cellphone, and went to stand by the gate. There were a few other people standing there. They asked everyone that was standing there to please take their seats and wait, because they were going to call us on by boarding numbers. I looked at my boarding pass, and saw that I was in group three. They called the boarding number, and began boarding with group one, disabled people, and military. Finally my group was called, and I go into line. They checked my ticket and my ID, and then I headed down the hallway. I got on the plane and found my seat with ease. I was sitting by the window, which was good because I wouldn't have to move for someone to get in the row.

A kind looking lady boarded the plane, and after conferring with her ticket, came and sat down next to me. I smiled at her, but she only scowled back. She reached into her personal bag, grabbed her iPod, and started listening to it. Well okay then. Can you say grouchy woman much? I leaned back in the seat, and listened to the flight attendants take off spiel. After that was done, the little televisions lit up with the inflight movie. Not something I particularly cared to watch, so I pulled out my iPod, and started listening to my music. The flight was approximately 2 hours and, so I had a ways to go. I guess I fell asleep while I was "resting my eyes" because when I opened them again, we were beginning the descent. I put my chair all the way up in the upright position, and tucked my iPod back into my purse, which was doubling as my carry on. We landed with a soft bump, and taxied down to where we got off. I waited for the grouchy woman to get off, before following the rest of the people out of the plane, making sure to watch my arm in case someone bumped it.

I got off the plane, and headed toward the gate. I had a three hour layover until I got onto my flight to Port Angeles, so I was going to make the best of it. I headed to the main terminal to wait. Then I went to the bathroom. I washed my hands awkwardly, and then decided to try and catch some food. I wasn't sure if I would have enough money to buy expensive airport food, so I pulled my wallet out of my purse. I opened it up, and there were a bunch of crisp twenties inside. Stuck to one was a sticky note that said 'love mom'. I began to tear up. She didn't have to do that! I walked past an ATM, and a news place, until I reached a Starbucks. I ordered some coffee and an egg salad sandwich. I sat down, and ate. By this point I still had an hour and a half to kill before I had to board my next flight. I decided to read for a while, and then use the bathroom before I had to get on again. Bathrooms on airplanes are gross. The last bit of my layover passed quickly. I found my gate, and boarded the next flight. My next flight was almost an hour and a half, and I fell asleep again.

When I woke up we were taxiing down the runway, and I again sat up to prepare to disembark. I got off; found Charlie, who had found my luggage. He must have read the tags. We went out to his cruiser, and began the hour long drive back to Forks. I had slept for most of the way over, so I wasn't really tired at all. It was just about ten thirty when Charlie had picked me up from the airport. I felt bad because he had to work in the morning too, and we still had an hour before getting home, and I knew Charlie would want to make sure that I was all set. Finally we made it, and I crawled out of the cruiser and went to the trunk. I wanted Charlie to open the trunk so I can get my stuff and go to bed. Even though I had practically slept the whole way here, I was still exhausted. Charlie insisted on carrying my bags, because I was accident prone and would probably trip and break my neck or something. I went and unpacked my bags, and crawled into bed.

I found, however, that once I was in bed I was no longer tired. I realized that Jace, from the hospital, had slipped me a piece of paper that I hadn't looked at. I scrambled out of bed, and ripped through my things until I had found the folded slip of paper. I climbed back into bed, and unfolded the slip of paper. It had a phone number on it, that said 'text me' with a little smiley face. I smiled, and grabbed my cell phone. I typed the number into a new text message, and sent him a message telling him it was me. I wasn't expecting a reply, seeing how late it was, but he replied back, and pretty quickly. We texted for a few hours and he was pretty disappointed when I told him I had moved a day away by car from him. I told him he could come visit me whenever, and he seemed pretty happy about that. He told me that he wanted to date me. I was pretty happy about that. I had never really had anyone who wanted to date me before. I went to sleep that night with a smile on my face. He had told me that I was beautiful when he texted me good morning. It was Sunday, but Charlie still had to work.

I settled into bed, and texted Jace back. He told me he was about to go into church, and that he'd text me back afterwards. I smiled, and crawled out of bed. I pulled on some sweats, and went down to the kitchen to have some breakfast. Charlie had taped a note to the fridge, and told me that he was working until two, and that he would take me to go grocery shopping after he got out of work. I pulled the note off, and opened the fridge to see what I could scavenge for breakfast. I found a few decent looking eggs, and some ham and cheese. I decided to make an omelet, and tried to find some tea bags for tea. I found some regular tea, not flavored, one of those cheap generics. It would do for now, but it was definitely going on my shopping list to pick up my favorite brand. Charlie probably only drank tea when he was sick anyways.

My phone buzzed when I was sliding my omelet onto a plate. My cup of tea was half gone at this point, and I poured myself a glass of water. I flipped my phone open, and read the text message from Jace. I smiled. He asked me what I was doing that day, so I told him that I was going grocery shopping and doing housework. He laughed at me, and said that he was going to be lazy all day. I finished my food, and placed my dishes in the sink. I started cleaning the old gross food out. When I was done, the thing was pretty much empty, and I started on my list of things to pick up. That's when my cell phone rang.


	3. Chapter 3

**PB/N- I took some artistic liberties with this chapter. I couldn't find a birthday for the twins, so I made one up to help make sense of the whole age thing. For the record, I decided their birthday is September 15, 1986. (That is the real year, btw.)I don't own anything you recognize.**

**Bella PoV**

My phone rang, and I quickly scrambled to answer it. The caller id read 'Mom' so I answered it. "Hey mom, how's it going?" I asked as I picked up the phone. I placed it between my shoulder and my ear so that I could still write and talk. We talked for a little bit, and then mom had to go cook lunch. I hung up, and checked my texts. Jace had texted me four times, and wanted to know where I was. Laughing, I told him that I had been talking to my mom on the phone. He sent a funny little smiley face back, apologizing. I told him it wasn't a big deal, and that I didn't give him any explanation before disappearing. I made lunch for myself and some extra for Charlie in case he wanted it. The door opened, and Charlie walked in.

"Hey dad!" I said, as he pulled off his holster, and hung it up. He let out a little grunt, and grabbed the plate I had made up for him off the counter. I made him a strong pot of coffee, and poured him a huge cup. He thanked me, and chugged it all down.

"I'm going to go change, and then we will go shopping. Afterwards, I have a surprise for you!" he said, unbuttoning the shirt that made up his uniform to reveal the white tee shirt underneath. I nodded, and headed upstairs to put on some decent clothes for going out of the house. I pulled on a pair of skinny jeans, and a loosely fitted black long sleeved shirt. It was comfortable, and that is what I like. Over that I put on a baggy hooded sweatshirt that was green. I slipped on some boots, and headed back downstairs. I had yet to unpack and wash all my clothes, but I figured that I could do that when I got home. Charlie was already back downstairs, sitting down at the table, drinking another cup of coffee. He stood up as I walked in.

He asked in a gruff voice, "You ready?" I looked at him, and nodded. I started heading for the front door, and realized that I had left my cell phone on the counter. I dashed over and grabbed it, narrowly missing the counter. I stuffed it in my pocket, and headed out with Charlie. I had transferred my written list into the notepad on my phone, but even still I knew what I needed to get. Basically anything as long as it is healthy, however, because I'm a nut about that. My teacher once made the class watch a video about corn, and it talked about high fructose corn syrup. It's insanely bad for you, so I always check the labels before I buy something. Charlie just shook his head at me when he saw me reading all the labels for high fructose corn syrup, or any variation. I tossed things in the cart, until it was practically overflowing. Charlie laughed at me, and we made our way up to the registers.

"Don't forget, Bells, you start school tomorrow." He said, glancing at me as he put the food onto the conveyer. I mentally cursed. I had forgotten all about that. "Do you have everything you need or should we stop somewhere to pick things up?" he asked.

I shrugged. I'll do what I always do." I said. "I'll bring a notebook, pens and pencils, and a backpack and just get the specific things I need tomorrow night." He nodded.

"Good plan. Way to save money on things you don't need." He said approvingly. I laughed. They checked the last things out, and Charlie paid. We loaded the groceries into the car, and then headed home to drop them off and put them away. Then we would head out for my "surprise". I could only use one arm to bring the groceries in, because of my broken arm. I decided to put them away so I would know where everything was. I quickly put everything away, and headed back out to the cruiser. I flopped down on the passenger's seat, and buckled myself in. Charlie came out a second later and got back in the car. He started it up, and started driving. One think I noticed about wherever we were going is that there were a lot of trees. And I mean a lot. Almost the entire forty minutes that we drove all I could see surrounding me was trees. Finally we arrived at our final destination, it was in a cute little Cul De Sac with a lot of young, very dark skinned children running around and playing. We parked in one of the driveways, and got out. It was of the houses on the outside, and there was a path leading off into the woods surrounding the place. A ramp lead up to the doors, placed next to the stairs. There was also a rusty old truck in the driveway, and a newer looking black truck parked neatly next to it. We headed towards the house, where a dark skinned teenager and an older looking man in a wheelchair came out of the house. Suddenly, I recognized where I was.

This was the Blacks house. I used to play with their daughters and their son Jacob when I was little. I remember that when I was 12 his mother had died, and he was so sad afterwards that I didn't want to play with him anymore. I mostly played with his older sisters, however, because they were closer in age to me. I was snapped out of my musings by being engulfed in a huge bear hug.

"Well hi to you too!" I said, laughing. I hugged him back, and he let go. "Where are Rach and Beks?" I asked. He looked at the ground.

"Bella… Rachel finds any excuse to stay away from here. She's on scholarship to the University of Washington. As for Rebecca, she married a pro surfer as soon as she turned 18 and moved to Hawaii. And flights to Hawaii and back are not cheap." I nodded in agreement. The twins' birthday was two days after mine, so I turn seventeen and they turn eighteen. That was back in September, and it was now March. Jacob held his hand out to me. He had something in his hand, so I held mine out. He dropped a set of keys into my palm. I stared at them for a second. Then it dawned on me. Charlie got me a car?

I turned to Charlie with my mouth open. He let out a belly laugh, and pushed me towards the rusty truck. Jacob came with me, and explained how to drive it, and all the little quirks the truck possessed that made it unique. He made me laugh. He was definitely more grown up than he was when he was nine. I could see Billy and Charlie staring at us with hopeful eyes. Charlie told me to drive the truck home, and that he would meet me there. And that I could spend as much time at the Blacks as I wanted. He winked at me and left. I rolled my eyes, and said my goodbyes.

**Edward PoV**

This morning, I knew it was never going to be an ordinary day again. Something in the air had changed. For once, I had hope. Hope that I would no longer be alone. Alice came bolting to my room, and began pounding on my door.

"Edward! Edward, let me in!" she shouted. We both knew that she could easily break the door down, but the last time that had happened Esme got really mad and made us build a new door to teach us a lesson. I stood up smoothly from where I had been laying on the floor. I unlocked the door, and she came bolting into the room with her cardigan fluttering behind her. When you live in a house with Alice, you know all there is to know about fashion, whether you wanted to or not.

"Jasper said that the feelings of despair and hopelessness have gone! What's happening Edward?" she asked, her thoughts going a million miles an hour.

"Calm down, Alice. Something in the air changed. It feels… very different, like I have something to look forward to." I said, sitting swiftly down on the only chair that my room possessed. She flopped herself down on the floor, although carefully to avoid leaving a dent in the floor. We've also learned from that mistake. Alice stopped her perpetual motion. I was sucked into the vision along with her. It was totally normal for that to happen. The psychic and the mind reader. Typical. A pretty girl with brunette hair twirled around in a dance, her aqua colored arm cast tucked into her side. She had the most beautiful laugh. As quickly as the vision started, it was over. Alice looked at me.

"What does she have to do with anything?" Alice asked. "I've never seen that girl before in my life!" I agreed. She did, however, vaguely look like the chief of police, although I wasn't aware if he had children. I voiced this, and Alice decided we should go ask Carlisle. However, he was at the hospital and wouldn't be back until late tonight. Probably around eleven, and right now it was eleven in the morning. We decided to go ask Esme. Perhaps she would know of any offspring the chief had. We went upstairs, to her study where she worked on keeping finances straight, although we really had no reason to worry about finances. After hundreds of years of working and not needing to buy much at all, money tended to build up. It also helped to have a mind reader that was able to foresee the correct numbers on the lottery, or which stocks to invest in. We talked to Esme and asked her if she knew if he had any children.

"Well, I'm not sure. He probably does, because he was married a few years back." We thanked her, and decided that instead of waiting for Carlisle to get home, we would look it up on the internet. Everything is on the internet. We looked it up, and indeed he has a daughter. She's 17, and her name is Isabella. She lives with her mother in Phoenix after the divorce. That was what really puzzled us. If she lives in Arizona, then why is Alice having a vision of her? We decided to ignore it, and let everything play out. Alice went downstairs, probably to watch the fashion channel or something. I decided to stay in my room, and do the school work I had put off. Not that it really mattered, because it would only take me maybe ten minutes to do it. Years and years of doing the same coursework got really old after a while. I sighed, and began to write an essay. Next time we move, I want to be in college. At least courses in college always change.

I finished my homework ten minutes later, and then decided to do some composing. This got boring after about three and a half hours, so I decided to work some more on studying my languages. I decided to spend two hours working on my Hmong, and two and a half on my Gaeilge. The Gaeilge is not very common, spoken very little in very specific parts of Ireland. It is hard to find people who speak the language, which makes it all the harder to learn it, even though I can remember everything. By the time I had switched languages, I had spent more time than intended to on languages. That was okay though, because the more time I took the less things I had to think of to occupy myself. By the time I decided to quit studying, it was two thirty in the morning. I decided to continue the book I had started last night, and read until I needed to get ready for school. It was a relatively thick book, so I probably won't finish it before then. School started at eight, and usually we leave around seven thirty. It takes about ten minutes to get to school with traffic, since all the schools in the district are right there next to each other. We liked having extra time at school. It was nice to get away from a house where you spend your entire existence.

Six o'clock rolled around, and I marked my place in the book, and got up to get ready. I took a shower, washed my hair and body, and got out. I towel dried myself and my hair, and pulled on a pair of simple cotton boxers, a pair of low rider jeans, and a blue striped button up shirt with a white tee shirt underneath. I brushed out my hair, and styled it so that it was just right. By this time it was seven. I went back into my bedroom, threw my dirty clothes down the laundry chute, and piled all my books and binders into my school bag. I tucked my wallet into my back pocket and my car keys into my front pocket. I shouldered my bag and headed downstairs. I headed into the garage, and popped the trunk. That was when the boys walked into the garage, carrying their backpacks and the girls backpacks. They always took until the last second to get dressed. All the bags were tossed into my trunk, and I slammed it shut. Heading back into the house, I sat down on the couch, and waited for the girls. I had started the car already so we could leave as soon as they are ready. They came fluttering down the stairs, looking perfect as always. I felt a twinge of jealousy as my brothers kissed their girls, and Jasper shot a sheepish look at me. 'Sorry' he mouthed. I shook my head, and headed to my car. I sat in the driver's seat, with Emmett next to me in the passenger's seat, because they couldn't all squish if he was back there. Alice was in the middle, being the tiniest, with Jasper and Rosalie on either side of her. Traffic wasn't bad today, and we got to school really quickly, and stood outside. I heard a very loud groaning and rumbling that I had never heard before. A huge, old rusty truck that I hadn't seen since the 1960s pulled into the parking lot, and tried to get into the nearest parking spot, but stalled out. Alice let out a tinkling laugh, and turned to look at me.

"Edward, I think I figured it out." She said in an amused tone. I let out a little laugh, as the truck started moving again, making it into the spot and parking. The girl from the vision yesterday hopped down from the truck, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Alice had a vision that this tiny human would be present in all her classes, and instantaneously made the decision to use the guise of showing her around. She walked up to the girl, and introduced herself. Isabella's cheeks slowly returned to ivory, as Alice led her to the front office. The day passed in a flash as it always did, with Alice sitting with Isabella at lunch instead of us. Immortal life was so dreary and boring. I finally got to my last class of the day, which was chemistry. I sat in my seat. The desk was a two seater, and while I was good looking and all the girls fawned over me, my aura was cold, and that made everyone feel awkward around me. It was, however, the only empty seat in the classroom. I was relieved once class had started, although a little worried that Alice wasn't there yet. Then, I realized something with dread. Alice was in my class. Alice also shared all her classes with Isabella. There was only one seat left in the room. Next to me. I was in some deep trouble when they finally showed up to class, which they did seconds later. Isabella was clutching wet books to her chest with her good arm, and a torn backpack was thrown carelessly over her shoulder. She scowled as the teacher asked her to introduce herself to everyone. She quickly ran through a spiel that I'm sure she had said multiple times today, and asked that everyone called her Bella. Alright, so Bella then. Mr. Wiston directed her to take the seat next to me. I groaned. Hopefully she wouldn't smell good, but my hopes were totally dashed when she came to sit down next to me. I couldn't stand it, even holding my breath I had to leave during the middle of class and not go back. I waited in my car for everyone to get out of class.


	4. Chapter 4

**PB/N- I do not own anything you recognize.**

**Bella PoV**

I woke up on Monday, groaning. I had to go to school today. I had laid out what I was going to wear last night, and readied my backpack. All I had to do was take a shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast. I could afford to sleep another ten minutes, right? I thought so, until Charlie poked his head in through the door. "Bells it's time to get up. Your alarm went off twenty minutes ago." He said, opening the door wider. I groaned again, and pushed myself off my bed.

"Can you bring me a plastic bag?" I asked Charlie. He gave me a funny look, but did what I asked. He gave a look of understanding when I started to twist it around my cast to keep it dry while I showered. He helped me to securely tie it around the top, then hastily made his way out so that I could gather everything I needed to go shower. I showered quickly, and dried myself off. I even dried the bag because I couldn't untie it by myself, at least not yet anyways. I pulled on my clothing. I was wearing a pair of loose fitting jeans, some casual sneakers, and blue tee shirt, and a baggy black hoodie. It would be throwing on my winter jacket as I left anyways, because it was going to be cold today, according to the forecast. I ran a brush through my hair, and headed back to my room carrying my pajamas. My hair always dried straight, and never frizzed. It was faithful like that. I dumped my pajamas on my bed, and shouldered my backpack. I made my way downstairs, where Charlie was frying up some bacon that we had bought yesterday. The toaster dinged, and two bagels popped out. I went over to Charlie, and asked him to untie the bag for me, which he did. I threw it in the garbage and I grabbed the cream cheese, butter, milk and orange juice from the fridge, setting them on the table. I also grabbed two plates and two glasses from the cabinet, and set those on the table too. I sat down, and poured some OJ into my glass, sipping on it. I stood up again, grabbed the bagels, and set one on each plate. I began spreading cream cheese on one half, when Charlie came over to the table with a plate of the freshly cooked bacon. I immediately grabbed several pieces. Bacon was delicious, and I totally ignored the bad things it can do to you. Taking a bit of bacon, I finished spreading cream cheese on one half of my bagel, and started the other half.

I quickly devoured my food, and left the house after throwing my jacket on. It was about seven thirty at that point, and I wasn't sure how traffic would be. I hoped that it wasn't too busy, and my wish was granted. I lived a mile away from the school, and it took me about fifteen minutes with the traffic to make it. I pulled into the parking lot, and immediately found a parking space. I started trying to pull in, and accidently stalled my truck out. I could feel my cheeks reddening. I was completely convinced that everyone was watching me, especially because of how old my truck looked. I restarted it, and pulled into the spot. I put it in park, and pulled the key out, slinging my bag over my shoulder at the same time. I stepped out, and felt the cold air whoosh over my flushed skin. A very tiny girl came towards me. Her gait was very graceful, almost dance-like.

"Hullo!" She said. "My name is Alice Cullen! I'm going to show you around the school today, because our classes are all the same. Hang on, perhaps I should have let you introduce yourself, to make sure I have the right person!" she said, all very fast.

"Well Alice," I said. "My name is Isabella Swan, but you can call me Bella." I could feel the flush from my cheeks slowly going away.

"Awesome, then you are the person I am looking for!" she said with a big smile. "Let's head up to the office to gather the paperwork you need to do. The sooner it gets done the better." She said, leading me towards the building. We walked in, and were immediately blasted with a wave of hot air. I almost wanted to take off my jacket, but I figure that I would be heading back outside soon enough. The lady at the front desk must have recognized me, because even though she was on the phone, she handed me a stack of papers that had my name all over them. I filled out the necessary ones, but kept the map of the school, the paper all my instructors needed to sign, and of course my schedule. I figured that the map would be unneeded since I had Alice, but kept it all the same. We then headed out, and right as the warning bell rang. She led me to our first class, which happened to be a high school psychology course. She danced off to her seat, and I talked to the instructor for a moment, and she signed my paper. Luckily I was not forced to introduce myself to the class. This one was almost exactly like the class I had been in when I was enrolled in Phoenix, but they were behind. They were discussing things we had already talked about, weeks ago. This would probably be an easy class. She gave us a worksheet for homework, which I completed during class, easily. At the end, she rushed over and handed me a textbook, which I hadn't even thought about when I entered the classroom. Everyone had just a regular notebook, so I made note of that. Next I was whisked off to my Statistic class. Again Alice took her seat while the teacher talked to me. He signed the paper, and handed me a textbook and a syllabus. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky this time, and had to introduce myself.

I took a deep breath, and turned around to face the gathered class. "Hi. My name is Isabella, but you can all call me Bella. My father is the police chief, and I moved here because my mother got remarried." I shot off quickly in my nervousness. I felt the blush returning to my cheeks, as everyone stared at me. Alice shot me double thumbs up, and motioned that I came to sit in the empty seat next to her. This is pretty much how the rest of my morning went. I had two more classes before lunch. Each class was about an hour long, and I had four in the morning and two after lunch. I went to English next, which was all the way on the top floor. One heck of a climb if you ask me! The teacher handed me the book we were currently reading, and told me that we were on page 156. The book just happened to be Pride and Prejudice, which just happens to be one of my all-time favorite books. I much preferred Wuthering Heights, but that isn't what we were reading. Alice told me that the class had already read Wuthering Heights, and I was okay with that. My last class before lunch was History, or more specifically, World History. I had already studied World History as a half year course in Phoenix, but I was glad that I could go deeper into some of the subjects. Some of them had really fascinated me and I was not happy that we could not go deeper into the details. This teacher made me address the class, and then handed me the textbook and directed me to the open seat behind Alice. I kept nodding off. The topic that the class was discussing was something that I didn't find all too interesting, plus I was so worried about my first day that I didn't sleep well. I was just about asleep when something hit my forehead. I jerked my head up, and almost shrieked, but managed to hold it in. The crumpled up ball of paper that had hit me had bounced off and landed on my desk. I quietly unfolded it, and read what it had to say.

**Bella, what are you doing for lunch?**

**-Alice**

I wasn't sure what to do about lunch. Alice was the only one that I really knew, and she had her family to sit with. I thought for a second, and then wrote my reply on the paper.

**I figured that I would just find somewhere to sit by myself.**

**-Bella**

I crumpled it back up, and dropped it over her shoulder when the teacher had her back turned to us. She grabbed it, and unfolded it. She quickly scribbled something, and crumpled it back up, and chucked it under the desk, and it landed perfectly in my lap.

**Bella, that's nonsense. I will sit with you. I see my family all the stinking time.**

**-Alice**

I let out a chuckle. I figured it wasn't necessary to reply to that, so I stuffed the ball of paper into my backpack. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang. I let out a sigh of relief. I swung my backpack onto my shoulder, and managed to stuff my cast through. Alice led me to the cafeteria, and we got in line to get some lunch. Alice told me that she was on a special diet because of a health concern, and that she had forgotten her lunch at home. If she tried to eat school lunch she would get very ill. I figured that was fairly reasonable, a lot of people had problems like that. I picked my food up, paid, and then looked around. I felt a tug at my good shoulder, and Alice bobbed her head in one direction. There was an empty table over in the corner of the room, so we headed in that direction and dropped our stuff. I gathered my hair in my hand, and draped it so that it was over my left shoulder. It was getting pretty long, but I didn't want to cut it. It looked really nice long. I wasn't very hungry, and ended up eating only half of my sandwich and a few bites of the fruit salad that I had gotten. I went and dumped my tray, leaving my bag at the table I flopped back down at the table.

"There is like fifteen minutes left for lunch. We can sit here if you want or we can go to gym and get ready for class." She said.

"Uh… Let's go get ready for class I guess. Not much point in just sitting here." She nodded, and gracefully stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. I much less gracefully did the same, and we headed out through the still loud cafeteria. We walked for a couple minutes, and then Alice paused.

"Right here." She said, gesturing to the doors beside us. I pushed them open, and was met with the rank stench of sweat. I wrinkled my nose, and placed my bag down on the bench in front of the lockers. She went over to one of the blue lockers, twisted the lock dial, and opened it up. She pulled out a pair of sweats, and began pulling them on. I pulled off my sweatshirt. It was a little hot in here. Alice turned to look at me, already dressed. "Are you planning on participating today?" she asked, looking directly at my plaster encased arm. I shook my head.

"I'd prefer to watch today." I said. "Besides, I probably won't be allowed to do much because of my arm." 'Because of my stupid step-father.' I thought bitterly.

"Did you want to put your backpack into my locker? Just in case?" she asked, pulling the door open wider.

"No thanks. I'm sure that they'll give me one in the beginning of class and then I can come in and put it in." I said, shrugging my shoulder. She smiled at me, and then closed and locked her locker. I stood up, and we headed in the opposite direction of which we had come in. There was a door marked 'Gym', which we went through. It was empty, although there was a shut door that had a sign declaring it as the office. I flopped down on the side against the wall, and Alice started doing some laps around the gym. The bell had rung while we were in the locker room a few minutes earlier, so I fully expected that people would be on their way into the gym soon. The office door opened, and out walked a man wearing track pants, a black tee shirt, and sneakers. He walked toward me.

"I am coach Marcilleno. You must be Bella Swan." He said.

"Yes sir." I said meekly. He let out a belly laugh.

"I like you already!" I cracked a smile. He held out a small slip of paper to me, which I took. "Your locker number and combination. Once you are all set with your injury, you will need some clothes to exercise in." He said. He smiled at me again, and walked to the middle of the gym. People had already started pouring in. Alice sat off to the side, doing some stretches. I stood up, and headed back to the locker room. I grabbed my bag off the bench, and proceeded to find my locker. I opened it, and shoved the little paper into my pocket so I would have the combination to my locker. I put my backpack in, and shut the door again. I double checked my pocket to make sure that I had the combination before I locked the door. It was still there, so I snapped the lock shut and headed back to the gym. Everyone was doing laps around the gym as a warm up. They then stopped that and did some self-paced stretches. I saw Coach Marcilleno and a couple of boys were dragging out some volleyball equipment. One of the girls jogged over to the storage area, and grabbed a couple of balls. In that minute, I was incredibly thankful to have a broken arm. I hated volleyball. I was terrible at it, and often times spiked the ball into someones head. It was usually someone who was on my team. After a while they stopped letting me play volleyball. I sat down against the wall, and hugged my knees to my chest with my good arm. I watched the volleyball games that my class was playing. They were pretty good, especially Alice. Whatever team she was on won the game. Finally, about ten minutes before class was to end, coach called a halt to the games.

"Hit the showers and change up! Nice work today!" he said. He started to pull the nets back to the side, and a few boys ran to help him. I followed the rest of the girls back to the changing room, and made my way to my locker. I put the combo in, and pulled open the lock. I began trying to wrestle my bag out, but the locker was having better luck keeping it there. Girls were starting to leave, so I gave one last hard tug. The locker released it, but not after ripping open the bottom of my bag on a piece of metal that was sticking out. I could not believe that this was happening. I kneeled down, and proceeded to pick up my books that were now spilled all over the floor. Girls just looked at me as they continued to leave. I rolled my eyes at them. Alice came waltzing over to me.

"Your backpack!" She exclaimed, dropping down to her knees to help me pick up papers that had spilled everywhere. I gave a grimace.

"Yes. I guess I'll have to sew it when I get home." I said with a shrug. Alice looked troubled.

"I guess so." I slung my ripped bag over my shoulder, and cradled my books to my chest. We walked out of the changing rooms. The hallways were practically deserted. I sped up a little, not wanting to be late to class. I waltzed in with Alice right behind me, just as the bell rang. I gave a sigh of relief, and then the teacher told me to introduce myself. With a scowl on my face I let off my spiel, like I had for pretty much all of my classes today. He then directed me to the only open seat, next to Alice's brother. He let out a little groan when the teacher told me to sit there, but I tried to not let it get to me. Maybe he was just one of those people that preferred to sit alone. As I thumped my stuff down, he noticeably stiffened. I rolled my eyes, and looked straight forward, trying to listen to the lecture. About halfway through class, he grabbed his things and stormed out. I wasn't sure what his problem was, but I was going to find out. It dawned on me, while I was attempting to pay attention, that Alice had not touched me today. Maybe that was a little weird to think about, but she seemed like the huggy type.

I then started thinking about the rest of her family. They were all beautiful, and had golden eyes that varied in shades of gold. They were all super pale. I decided that I would have to take a look at a specific book when I got home. The bell rang, signifying the end of the day. I don't think I had ever been so relieved to be free from school. Alice waited for me as I grabbed all my books and headed for the door. She chatted about this and that until we got to the parking lot. I turned, and smiled at her. Then I leaned forward, and gave her a hug. I just wanted to gauge her reaction. She stiffened. She was also really cold, which further cemented my questioning. I said my goodbyes, and headed off towards my truck. Hopping in, I started the truck, and carefully drove home after placing all my books on the passenger's seat. I had been pretty good about doing the homework I was assigned during class. It seemed to be mostly things that I had already covered in Arizona. I made my way home pretty fast, and dashed upstairs. I dropped my stuff on my desk, and ran over to my bookshelf. Lucky that I had decided to bring this book with me to Forks. I began flipping through the book. I found the page I was looking for, and exclaimed in delight. I knew the Cullen's were vampires! I shoved the book back onto the shelf, and stood up. I glanced at the time. Charlie should be home soon, but I needed to go out and buy school supplies. I glanced at my backpack, and picked it up. I examined the rip. There was no way that I would be able to fix this. It was beyond repair. Sighing, I chucked it down onto the floor. I grabbed my wallet out of my backpack, and stuffed it into my purse. I made my way down the stairs.

I decided that instead of driving an hour to get to the nearest Wal-Mart, I was just going to go to the pharmacy and variety store and hope that they had what I needed for school. I figured that they would, because where else would the other students get their stuff? I hopped in my truck, feeling the mist of the falling rain. I had left a note for Charlie on the table in case he got home before me. Luckily, I found what I needed at the store, and went home. I had texted Jace a few times. He wanted to meet me for real, not just a few seconds in the elevator while our doctors argued with each other.


	5. Chapter 5

**PB/N: I'm not a doctor, sorry if things are incorrect, I went by what I researched and/or thought was reasonable. Anything you recognize I do not own.**

I got home from the store, and threw all my bags on the counter. Charlie's cruiser had pulled up just as I started getting out of my truck, so he was right behind me. He caught me as I started to slip on the floor. I really could just trip over nothing. It was usual for me. He laughed as he set me back on my feet. I rolled my eyes, and began rummaging through all the bags to get myself organized. I started hauling my stuff upstairs, as Charlie rummaged through the fridge. Probably looking for a beer or something like that.

I dumped everything out on my bed, and grabbed all my textbooks and my schedule. While I did have Alice to show me to my classes, the slip of paper had my locker on it. I began labeling all of my notebooks, and sliding them into my new bag. I finally finished that, and set my new bag so that it was leaning against my dresser.

Heading back downstairs, I found Charlie pulling out a saucepot, and turning on the faucet. "Dad, what are you doing?" I asked, plonking myself down at the table.

"I am cooking dinner for you." He announced, setting the pot on the stove. He flipped the dial so that it would begin to heat. I laughed to myself. We would see how this went. I decided to go back up to my room, and grab a book to read, while keeping an eye to make sure Charlie did not burn the house down. He had always been a horrific cook. I was really surprised that the house was still intact at this point. I grabbed Romeo and Juliet off of my bookshelf, and also grabbed my old, ripped backpack while I was there. Carrying both objects, I made my way downstairs. I went outside, and shoved the old backpack into the garbage can, and then went inside. I placed the paperback book on the table, and went to heat up some water so that I could make tea. I seemed to cycle through what my favorite flavor was. Right now I was into Earl Grey.

Bringing my steeping mug to the table, I sat down and opened the book. I began to read. I only looked up when I heard Charlie cursing under his breath. I let out a giggle, and stood. Taking a step over, I felt a little dizzy all the sudden, so I stopped. My head cleared in a second, and I put it down to standing too quickly.

"What happened dad?" I asked, taking a step closer to the stove. He prodded at some pasta in the pot, which had all clumped together because he forgot to stir. I giggled again, and took the spoon. I poked at the lump, trying to see if I could salvage it, or if we would have to dispose of the gummy mess that was called my father trying to cook. I quickly determined that nothing would save this, and did not hesitate to tell him so. He sighed, and turned off the stove. I laughed again. "You know, stirring usually helps." I said, stifling another laugh. He did some more grumbling as he dumped the water out of the pot, and chucked the congealed mass of pasta in the garbage. I started pulling out some things to cook, and got right to it. I usually cooked with Mom and Phil. Phil couldn't cook to save his life, and we were lucky if mom remembered to eat, what with the way she did her correcting for school. I started frying up some chicken, the dizziness returning a little. I brushed it off and took a sip of my tea. It seemed to help a little, so I returned to my cooking. I took the pot from Charlie, and began a new pot of water to boil. Finally everything was cooked, and not congealed, and I placed it all on the table.

"Thanks Bells." He mumbled, putting some food on his plate. "I don't want you to be cooking all the time." He got up, and grabbed a drink from the refrigerator.

"Maybe you could see if they offer any cooking courses at the college or something." I suggested, taking a bite of my chicken. He laughed at me, and cracked open his beer. I smiled, and shoved my food in my mouth. I finished up eating pretty quickly, and then headed back upstairs. I wanted to boot up my computer and check my emails and whatnot. I flipped my laptop open, and pressed the power button. Setting it down on the desk by the window, I walked over to my dresser to pick my outfit for tomorrow. Once I was finished pulling out clothing, I sat down at my desk, and began looking through my emails. A lot were from Renee, getting more and more panicky as they became more recent. I rolled my eyes. I had only been in Forks for about two days and my mother already thought I was dead. I calmly replied to her that I was fine, and having a good time. After I typed out my reply, I hit the send button. I surfed on the web for a while, trying to kill time before bed. Finally I decided it was a decent time to fall asleep, so I powered my computer down.

I decided that I would take a shower tonight so I would not have to in the morning. It was a bit of a hassle to do it then. I gathered my pajamas and undergarments, and put them in the bathroom on the counter. I then headed downstairs to grab a plastic bag to wind around my cast. I grabbed one out of the pantry, and headed into the living room to have Charlie help me with it. He looked up as I entered the room.

"Hey Bells. Didn't you take a shower this morning? Feeling that gross after school?" he said, chuckling. I let out a little laugh.

"Nah, I decided that it is less of a hassle to take a shower before bed than to deal with it in the morning." I said, holding the bag out to him. He inspected it for holes before winding it around my cast and tying the ends tightly and tucking the loose ends into the opening of my cast. The swelling had mostly gone, so there was a little bit of extra room for him to do that without it being uncomfortable. I headed back up to the bathroom, and grabbed a towel. I hung it up, and then began stripping my clothes from the day off. I threw them down the laundry chute, and turned on the faucet. I made sure that the water was warmed to temperature, and stepped in. Once I washed myself, hair included, I turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and began to dry myself off with the towel. Once I was dry, I managed to get the bag off of my arm by myself. I threw it in the trash bin in the bathroom, and began pulling on my night clothes. I ran a brush through my hair, and headed back to my bedroom, where I promptly crawled into bed. I checked my phone, and plugged it into the charger. I had a text from Jace which I responded to, and then I turned off my bedside light. I fell asleep quickly.

I woke up once in the middle of the night. I thought that I heard someone tapping on my window, but decided it was just a tree when I looked over and saw nobody there. I could have sworn that I felt someone in the room with me, but could not see anyone. Deciding that my imagination was acting up, I forced myself to fall back into a fitful sleep.

My alarm went off what seemed like minutes after I fell asleep. I knew it had really been hours. I was in one of those tired funks, so I decided to dress the part. I pulled out a pair of grey leggings, a plain shirt, and an oversized hoodie that was dark blue. I pulled on a pair of clog type shoes, and threw my hair up into a ponytail. Grabbing my jacket and my backpack, I made my way downstairs. I dropped my stuff by the door, and sat down at the table. I decided to have a bagel and cottage cheese for breakfast, with a cup of tea. Finishing up, I placed my dishes in the sink, and made my way out to my truck to go to school. I was much earlier than yesterday, because I did not hit the snooze button twice. I pulled into an empty parking space, and turned my truck off. Good, no embarrassing stalling today. I pulled Pride and Prejudiced out of my backpack, and picked up reading where the class left off yesterday. I was enthralled in my book, when there was suddenly a tapping on my window. I jumped, and my book went flying across the truck. Looking out the window, I saw Alice. I picked up my book, and put it back into my bag. I pulled the key out of the ignition as I got out of the car.

"You don't have to sit in your car you know." She said. "You can come chill with me and my family." She stabbed her head in their direction. They looked rather menacing, and I told her that. She chuckled, and told me that they were really just harmless. I didn't believe her, but followed her over to them just the same. Harmless was not a word that I would use to describe a vampire. We made it to her family.

Looking Alice straight in the face, I said "So, vampires, huh?" I tried to keep a straight face, but they all looked really nervous al the sudden. I laughed. Alice looked stricken with terror.

"I don't know what you are talking about." The blonde named Rosalie said stiffly. I laughed again.

"I know about vampires." I said, stifling another laugh. Their faces got filled with more terror, of that was even possible. Grabbing my arm lightly, the one named Emmett stuffed me into a silver Volvo. I didn't really want to skip school, but I was fine with that. It's not like I was missing anything anyways, because they are so much further behind than Phoenix's school. Three vampires made their way into the car, and the other two followed behind us in my truck. I kept laughing the whole way. They were so much more worried than they should be. I had a friend who was a vampire back in Phoenix. He did not go to school because it was too sunny, but he came to visit me about once a week at night. He told me that he could really get into trouble for that, but he didn't mind because I was his only friend. We pulled into a long driveway, which I assumed was the house that they occupied. The silver car was pulled into the garage, but my truck was left in the driveway. There were multitudes of cars, but it did not surprise me in the slightest. I had gotten pretty good at trying to keep up with vampire speed talking, so I was able to pick out some key phrases of the conversation Alice and Edward were having. Things such as 'why didn't you see this' were mentioned. I thought it was pretty neat. I lost all thoughts of listening when I was walked into the house. It was huge, and very white. There were two more vampires sitting on the couch in the living room. I deduced that one of them was Doctor Carlisle Cullen.

"Hello Dr. Cullen, I am Isabella Swan." I said, holding my hand out for him to shake. He took it gingerly, and shook it a little before letting go. The woman he was with stood up, and introduced herself as Esme, and then introduced all the children to me. I sat down across the couch from the doctor.

"Tell me Isabella," He said, leaning towards me, "How is it that you know about what we are and you're still alive?" there was curiosity in his voice.

"Well," I began. "When I lived in Phoenix I had a friend who was a vampire. He was younger than you, looks wise, but almost five hundred years old. He told me all about vampires, and we made sure to keep it an airtight secret. I was his only friend."

"What is his name?" Esme asked out of curiosity.

"His name is Livius." I replied. A few of them shook their heads. I knew that they would not know them. He told me that he always was on the down low, keeping away from other vampires. Many did not even know of his existence. It was a freak happening in Ancient Rome. He told me all about it. I wondered if he would visit me down here. Carlisle looked perplexed. I then got dizzy again, and put a hand to my head, hoping to ward off the feeling.

"Are you okay?" I heard Carlisle ask. Then the world around me swirled and went black.

xxx

When I woke up the first thing I saw was white walls and a white ceiling. I lifted my head up, and looked around. Charlie was sitting in a chair next to the bed I was lying in, hunched over with his head resting on his arms on the bed. It looked like he was sleeping. I looked over to the other side, where there was another chair that had recently been vacated. I heard a door open, and Charlie jerked upright. Carlisle Cullen walked through the door.

"How are you feeling Miss Swan?" he asked me, coming over and checking my pupils.

"I'm a little dizzy, and my head and stomach really hurt." I said as he checked my pulse. He then checked all the rest of my important vitals, and informed me that I would need to go down to get some scans done. The first thing that they were going to do was an ultrasound, mainly because they could bring the machine up to my room and do it there. While they were doing it, Carlisle was looking over the technicians shoulder and frowning. I figured that that could not be a good thing. They gave me some contrast dye in a cup so that they would be able to see the CT better, as that was where I was going next. It tasted nasty, and I almost vomited it back up. After that I was going to be shipped down to x-ray, and then back to my room to wait for the pictures to develop. When I was getting the CT, it was exactly the same as when I had gotten it in Arizona, except a little slower. I figured that the one that they had in Phoenix was probably newer or something. They asked me to hold my breath a few times, but it was over with pretty quick. They then brought me down to be x-rayed, but I had had that done so many times that it was nothing new.

It took a while for the results to come up. They had started me on a lot of fluids to get the contrast out of my system. Carlisle came in the room with a grim look on his face.

"Bella, it appears as though you have some pretty serious internal bleeding going on. Have you had any accidents lately that would cause this?" he asked, looking like he was staring into the depths of my soul. I told him that I had fallen down the stairs a few days ago, and that it was serious enough that it had broken my arm. His gaze narrowed, and he asked Charlie to leave the room. Charlie mumbled something about needing to go back to work anyways, and then he took off. Carlisle sat on the end of my bed, and affixed his unwavering stare at me.

"Bella, what really happened?" he asked sternly. That's when I burst into tears. He rubbed my shoulder a little until I calmed down.

"My stepdad." I hiccupped. "Before I left he would abuse me if I messed up a little bit. The night before I left he kicked me really hard in the stomach, and I also fell and landed all my weight on my arm. That's why it's broken." I said, bursting into tears again. He came over, and hugged me.

"We need to get you into surgery. Your bleeding is pretty intense, and we need to fix it before it gets too bad. Luckily it is a slow bleed and that's why you weren't affected right away, but it needs to get taken care of." I nodded, hiccupping some more. "We booked you for surgery right away. A nurse is coming in to prep you." I nodded, and hiccupped again. He patted my shoulder, and he walked out as the nurse walked in. I sniffled a few more times as the nurse did the necessary things before a surgery. Another person came in, and together they put up the rails on the bed, and unlocked the wheels. This was when I began to panic. My muscles tensed up, and I began hyperventilating.

"Hon, you need to relax. Breathe in and out slowly." She said, trying to calm me. I tried to calm down. I knew once I was out of the surgery I would be better. I tool deep, calming breaths, and finally my breathing returned to normal, just as the elevator door opened. They pushed the bed towards the operating room that they would be using to fix me. They covered my hair with a hair net sort of thing, and switched me to the bed that they would be operating on me. They started giving me the anesthesia, and told me to count back from ten. I barely made it to seven by the time I fell asleep.

Xxx

I woke up, and I felt pain in my abdomen. I let out a groan, and then heard the rustling of clothing nearby.

"Bella?" I heard a tinkling voice say nearby. I moaned, and heard a laugh. "Open your eyes, Bella!" The same voice said. I wished that I could open my eyes, but I wasn't really sure how. Suddenly I remembered, and wrenched my eyes open. I was blinded by the light, and slammed my eyes shut again. The room erupted in laughter. I opened them again, a little more slowly this time, and was met with almost all of the Cullen family. Rosalie, Esme, and Carlisle were missing. I figured that Carlisle was probably working, and Esme may have been too. As for Rosalie, She didn't particularly like me, so there wasn't much reason for her to be here.

"Hey guys." I said roughly. This caused the room to erupt in laughter again.

"Are you actually awake this time?" said Emmett, sounding amused. "You had several false alarms, and the things you said were actually pretty funny, even if they were because you're drugged to the high heavens." I rolled my eyes, and there was a knock on the door. I called out to the knocker to come in, and the door opened. It was Carlisle, in a fresh pair of scrubs.

He walked over the bed. "How are you feeling now, Bella?" He asked, shining a pen light in my eyes.

"Fine, a little pain in my abdomen, but other than that good." I said. Carlisle asked permission to lift my gown p, to take a look at my incisions, and I agreed. He looked at them for a few minutes, and nodded his head.

"Looking good Bella. You should be fine now. We found what we believed to be all the areas that were bleeding, and closed them up. However, if you have any more dizziness, please say something, or pain that is not related to your incisions or stitches." He said sternly. I nodded sheepishly. "also, about your hospitalization. Right now we are thinking perhaps a week, but we will re-evaluate in a few days to see where you stand. You're also probably going to need some blood transfusions because of the blood that was in your abdomen. Since you're a minor, we have to wait until your dad gets back to sign some paperwork for that." I nodded in agreement. It all seemed pretty logical.

Hit with a sudden thought, I turned to Alice. "Hey Alice, since you are in all my classes, maybe you could get my homework and classwork assignments for me?" I asked.

She smiled, and said "way ahead of you bells. I'm on the ball and ready to do that for you. I could even tell you the assignment ahead of time!" she let out a tinkling laugh.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her, the confusion bleeding through in my voice. Everyone else around us was chuckling, as if Alice had told some sort of joke.

"Alice can see the future." Edwards smooth voice interjected. "I can read minds, Jasper can feel and manipulate emotions, and Emmett is super strong." He said, listing off what everyone could do. I knew that vampires could have special, extra powers, but since Livius was the only other vampire I had met, and he did not have any unusual powers, it was a little unnerving that all these around me had them. Then it dawned on me. Edward can read minds.

"Oh God!" I shrieked, throwing myself away from Edward, as if this would prevent him from getting inside my mind. "Get out of my head!" He was in full-on belly laugh mode, and everyone else was chuckling, mostly at my reaction.

"Don't worry Bella," Edward said reassuringly. "For some reason I can't read your mind. Only yours."

"Great." I mumbled under my breath. "I'm a freak." They all started laughing again.

"I can read minds, and you're the freak?" Edward asked unbelievingly. I shrugged. It sounded good to me.


	6. Chapter 6

**PB/N- I do not own anything you recognize.**

The Cullen's, all except Carlisle, had left for the night, under the guise that they needed to go to bed for classes tomorrow. We all knew differently, but they did have a charade to keep up. I, on the other hand, was wide awake. I had an issue on my hands, and I was really unsure of what I was going to do. Phil said that if I ever told anyone about the abuse, he would find out, and kill me. I wasn't quite sure how he would find out, but I was positive that he would. What would I tell anyone? I wasn't sure if Carlisle was legally able to tell Charlie, because of patient-doctor confidentiality, but then again, at the same time, I was a minor. And this was an abuse case, and I had full on admitted that he did this to me, even though they only had what I told them. Even if there were scars on my body, they could be explained away as me being clumsy, which I was. While I was in the midst of my fretting, Charlie and Carlisle entered the room. A few hours ago, Charlie returned from work, and signed the forms allowing a transfusion to take place to replace some of the blood I had lost. Charlie sat down by my bed, and Carlisle stood by my feet.

"Bella," Carlisle said. "I told your father what you told me about your step-father. We called social services, and they are looking into it." I drew a breath in horror. This was it then. He was going to kill me, and I would be dead. It was such a shame, really. I could probably like it here.

Charlie put his hand on my knee. "Don't worry Bells. We are going to have an officer stationed here with you around the clock. They will know what he looks like if he attempts to make contact. There will also be a meeting held with the staff, to inform them what he looks like, and what the deal is. We will make sure that you are safe." I nodded, feeling slightly relieved. That was good. He couldn't get me. Carlisle nodded reassuringly, patted my foot, and walked out the door. He said he was going home and that he would be back to check on me first thing in the morning. Charlie was going to sleep here with me tonight, and go to work in the morning from here.

**Edwards Point of View**

I knew that I shouldn't, but I just felt attracted to protect this girl. I was drawn to her, and there was nothing I could do that would stop it, short of moving continents. And even that I was unsure of if it would help. I decided to spend the night hidden somewhere nearby so that I could be there to step in if something were to happen to her. I had skipped school today, so there was no homework for me to do. I found somewhere to hide near her room, where nobody would go and I would be able to listen to what was happening and intervene if it came down to it. These monsters, who abuse young girls, generally they try to stick to their promise about killing if someone says anything. There were going to be precautions put into place, which I heard in Carlisle's mind, but still that did not appease the urge to protect. As soon as her step-father knows that he is being brought forth on these abuse issues, it was likely that he would make a visit to Bella, hospital or not. I was not sure how long it would take for him to show up. I sat there for hours, just listening to her room, and also the menial drama that came from the doctors that walked back and forth in front of my hiding place. Next thing I knew, it was morning, and Charlie was saying goodbye to Bella, and informing her that her coverage should be there any minute. As soon as he left the room, I jumped at my chance. I practically ran into her room. She shouldn't be left alone. Who knows what could happen? I gave her quite a shock as I waltzed into her room, but at least I knew she was safe. Probably five minutes later, a gentleman in a police uniform poked his head into the room. He analyzed me to make sure that I was not who he was protecting her from, but at realizing that the heights were different he nodded his head, and stood guard at her door. There was going to be a staff meeting later, to inform the staff of the happenings with Miss Bella Swan. We were sitting in comfortable silence, until Bella broke it.

"Why are you here?" She asked. "I don't mean to be rude, but what about school?"

I chuckled. "I'm here for added protection to you. And as for school, I've attended so many times that I already know this stuff a million times better than the teachers." I said smiling at her. She let out a small smile back. I could tell that she was worried about her step-father coming for her. I moved my chair closer to her bed, and put my cold hand on hers. "I will not let him hurt you." I said sincerely. "If I am not here, one of my siblings will be. I promise." She nodded her head, and visibly relaxed. I sat back, and smiled. Good. She knew I would protect her, but now I just had to figure out WHY I wanted to protect her. Around eleven o'clock, Carlisle walked into the room to check on Bella. He checked her vital signs, and her incision area. I was kind of shocked by the scar that would be left there. It was pretty big, but then again I suppose that they had to make a big incision in order to get to all the bleeding areas. I was suddenly struck with an idea. I stepped into the bathroom while Carlisle continued to talk to Bella about something. I called Emmett, and asked him to come to the hospital so he could watch Bella while I ran an errand. He agreed, and hung up. I went back into the room, and waited for Emmett to arrive. My plan was amazing. I knew it wouldn't take Emmett long to get here. The High School is literally right down the street. He got here, and I explained to him what I needed him to do, and shoved a picture of Phil into his hand, so he would know who he was looking for. I explained to Bella that I would be back soon, and left, her confused face staring after me.

I got into my car, and headed to Port Angeles. For my plan I would need to go to a beauty store, and I didn't want anyone in Forks to know what I was doing. I rushed into the store when I got there, and walked up to the counter where there were women just standing around, talking. Their conversation fell short as I approached, and they all stared, like they had never seen a man in this store before. I cleared my throat.

"Hello. My girlfriend just had surgery, and it is going to leave a big scar on her stomach. I was wondering if you had any creams or something that I could get that would reduce the scarring?" I asked. Bella was not my girlfriend, but in my lifetime I had found it was easier to talk to women if they though that you were already taken. They all stared at me a little longer, and then one of the ladies snapped out of it and told me to follow her. I did just that, and she led me to a display of what had to have been fifty different types of creams I was looking for, which meant that I would have to make a decision. They came in different sizes, and colors and even scents. I looked at all of them, and then grabbed a decent sized tub that supposedly smelled like lavender. She smiled at me, and asked if I needed anything else while I was here. Bella didn't have any wrinkles, and I hadn't seen her wear makeup, so I figured I was all set. The lady helped me to check out. I then went to a different store, and bought a little gift bag so I could give it to her as a present. I really hoped that she liked it. I hopped back into my car, and drove back to the hospital.

**Bella Point of View**

Charlie left for work this morning, after spending the night here with me. He told me that coverage should be here soon, and then he left. Not even two seconds after he was gone did I see Edward walking into my room. He sat down in the chair that Charlie had just vacated, and explained to me why he was here. A few minutes later a cop came to the door, and told me that he was my protection. I saw him scrutinize Edward, and upon realizing that he was not Phil, he nodded his head and stood outside my door. Edward and I chatted for a while, while I was having breakfast. There was a knock on my door around eleven, and Carlisle came in. He started off by checking my incision. He inspected it thoroughly, and determined that so far there is no infection. As soon as my top can up, Edward had gone into the bathroom, pulling out his phone. I thought that was a little strange, but thought nothing else of it. Carlisle took the rest of my vitals, and deemed that I was healthy.

"So Bella. How are you feeling?" Carlisle asked, sitting in the seat that Edward had just vacated.

"I'm a little tired, but my stomach feels okay. My arm hurts though." I said, gesturing to my cast. "And I'm afraid that Phil is going to come and get me, even with the precautions that are in place."

"Can I see your arm?" he asked, gesturing to my cast. I held it out for him, and he gently inspected the cast. "I think I am going to have your arm x-rayed, just to make sure that it is okay. It shouldn't really be hurting you too much at this point." I nodded my consent, and he released my arm. Edward had walked out of the bathroom earlier, shoving his cell phone in his pocket. I looked at him, but he just stood there with a smile on his face. He was cooking up a devious plan, and it concerned me a little bit. It concerned me a little bit more that after a few minutes Emmett arrived. He quickly talked to Edward, and Edward in turn shoved something into Emmett's hand. After that, Edward left the room. Carlisle had left shortly after talking to me about my arm. Emmett joked around for a while, and then I heard conversation outside my door. Carlisle walked in, with the officer following behind him.

"Okay Bella. I'm going to take you down to x-ray now. Emmett and Officer Schmidt will be joining us." I nodded, and Carlisle held out a wheelchair that I was to get into. I managed it, trying to minimize the amount of pain that would occur. We made our way down two floors in the elevator, and to the machine. They positioned my arm under the machine, and took the pictures, adjusting my arm for different angles. Once they were done, I was wheeled back to Emmett and the officer, and together we headed back up to my room. I was made comfortable in my bed, and shortly after Carlisle came into the room with a big folder. He pulled out the x-ray, and placed it on the light board, turning the light behind it on. I saw the outline of my arm, and where the break was. He pointed to an area around the break, which was a darker color.

"See this? This is the beginning of an infection. I'm glad we caught this now. I'm going to go ahead and start you on some antibiotics. That should nip this guy in the bud, and solve the pain. I do, however, have a staff meeting in a few minutes." He said, snapping the light back off. I nodded, and Carlisle left the room again.

Officer Schmidt poked his head inside the room. "Hey, I'm going to run and use the bathroom. I'll be super quick." He said, winking at me. I rolled my eyes. This guy was married; I saw the ring glinting on his finger. Emmett talked to me for a while, and suddenly I heard a commotion outside my door. I got a little frightened, but I knew I was protected. There was the officer outside my door…. Who had just gone to the bathroom. And the staff were in a meeting. This couldn't be good. At least I had Emmett. He was staring at the door, almost like a dog when someone new comes to the door. All the sudden, the door creaked open slowly. I was out of my mind in terror at this point. Phil walked into the room, and shut the door behind him. I saw him analyze Emmett, and dismiss him as being a threat. Boy was he wrong. He walked toward me slowly. His facial expression reminded me of the Shining, when Jack had gone crazy. I cowered back into my pillow, trying to get as far away from him as I could. Emmett started growling, which stopped Phil in his tracks. He shook it off as his imagination, and continued his way towards me.

"Thought you could get away with telling and have me not find out?" he said menacingly. Emmett growled again, this time louder. That really threw Phil for a loop, because this time he knew he was not imagining it. He looked at Emmett with fear. Emmett stood up, and started walking towards Phil.

"Leave now, and I won't rip your head off!" He said, the growl behind his words. Officer Schmidt took that second to come back from the bathroom, opening the door to announce that he was back, when he realized who was in the room with us. He jumped into action, Emmett distracting Phil long enough for the officer to cuff Phil. He then spoke into the radio clipped onto his shoulder. It was that moment that Edward walked in, holding a gift bag. The excited smile on his face died as soon as he caught sight of Phil being led out of the room. He let out a small snarl, which made Phil wince back in fear. Carlisle came running into the room, followed by Charlie. Carlisle slowed, and then stopped when he saw Edward and Emmett quietly conversing in the corner. Charlie, however, continued to run to my side.

"Bella!" he puffed, out of breath from running. "Tell me you're okay. He didn't hurt you, right?" he said frantically.

"Dad, I'm fine. He didn't get to me." I said, putting my hand on his arm. He nodded, and put his head down.

"Bells, remind me to start eating some more leafy greens now and then." He said. I couldn't help it, and let out a little giggle, and Carlisle gave a small snort.


	7. Epilogue

**PB/N- I don't own anything you recognize.**

**Epilogue - 20 years later**

**Bella Point of View**

I liked to think back to when I first met Edward. It may not have been the best times of my life, but I like to think that it all happened for this reason. I had left the hospital all healed and just fine. Edward ended up giving me the scar cream later that day, and I had to laugh at how excited and proud he was of the present he got me. It did actually work too. The scar was practically unsayable by the next school year. My cast was taken off and I ended up undergoing physical therapy to regain the muscles back. Edward took me on my first date a month after my cast was off. I ended up turning Jace down, and he was happier for it, because a few weeks after he found the woman destined to become his wife, and we ended up losing touch. Eventually the Volutri found out that I knew about vampires, and enforced that I had to either become a vampire or become dinner. It was quite obvious what Edwards's choice was.

After I was changed, we had to explain it to my parents. Charlie took it pretty well, but Renee was hysterical. Eventually she came to terms with it, and she and Charlie actually started dating again. They had another child, this time a son. My little brother is absolutely adorable.

One day Jacob Black came knocking on the Cullen's door, to which I answered. The smell was absolutely revolting, to which he informed me that he had become a werewolf, or more accurately a shape-shifter. He then spoke to the rest of the Cullen's, and it was deemed that they had broken the treaty, which they then had to explain to me. We were forced to up and leave or suffer the consequences of death.

Rosalie eventually warmed up to me, because I did not really have a choice and she knew it. Alice, Rosalie, and I frequently made shopping trips, even if I was an unwilling participant.

Phil was brought to justice, and thrown in jail for child abuse. Even if I was 17, I was still legally a child. He later on committed suicide after he got out of jail. It had also come out that he had been abusing my mother as well.

**PB/N- thanks for taking the time to read! Have a great day (or night), and please remember to review!**


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